Odds and Ends
by Aeronous
Summary: When her mom drags her off to New York, Kagome is left to pick up the pieces of her disarranged life. It isn't until her first day of school, when she bumps into one of the members of a popular clique called Shi, that her life is turned upside down.
1. Preface

**Odds and Ends**

Preface

It was raining. Hard, if I might add.

The wooden bench perched behind the blue and white sign that was clearly labeled "Bus Stop," was wet, probably soaked through with the moisture falling endlessly from the stolid-gray skies. I moved around some to keep the tail of my bright yellow raincoat from sliding up from underneath my butt, which I was more than determined to keep from getting wet. After all, how could I make a good, solid effort in staving off frostbite when my butt was both freezing cold and drenched to the bone with rainwater?

I looked down at my feet, a flimsy hope balancing on the fringes of my consciousness. I craved for warmth and, somewhere amidst the clashing straps of pink satin holding my Stiletto heels to my feet, I prayed to the Heavens that a bright and blazing flame would ignite between them and chase away the coldness gathering in my toes, slowly extending to every inch of my body. But, then I would remember a voice whose more than eloquent cadence would constantly envelop me whole in a heart-throbbing cocoon of silken, angelic rhythms every time it fluttered across my eardrums. I tried hard to shove the thought aside, yet all intent of mimicking aversion proved completely futile. The thought would simply be replaced by another image…of him…of his liquid bronze eyes and his beautiful, pallid skin, along with his perfectly curved lips…

He was my silver-haired Adonis wrapped in infinite layers of perfection, not to mention every fiber of my being. Sadly, as my eyes averted towards the cloudless slate of gray hovering over me, a nagging conclusion continued to tug at me, intent on finding that special segment of my internal bowstring that, when pulled, would cause me to unravel into nothing.

This is for the best. If I were to stay around any longer, not only would my life be in jeopardy, but his would as well…probably even worse off than my own.

_Remember, Kagome…this is for the best. For both you…and Sesshoumaru._


	2. Chapter 1: Moving Day

**Odds and Ends**

Moving Day

I hated my mom and her swift conversion to all things that moved in luxurious cars that exceeded speeds no normal human being could possibly be safe around.

I hated the mere thought of leaving my small hometown for the "Big Apple" as many loved to call it. It was like involuntary suicide. No, it was much worse. It was like someone, after realizing just how "padded" their pockets were becoming, to the point of exploding, just up and decided to switch their cat's familiar, albeit dull and worn, litter-box and swapped it out with one of those massive, new-fangled ones with the automatic scooper. Yeah…it doesn't make much sense _now_, but just think about the cat for a second. Doesn't he get a say as to who changes his litter-box or not? I mean, after all, trying to break in a new litter-box requires a lot of patience and time…lots and lots of time!

"Ugh!"

"Now, Kagome…it won't be that bad," my mom soothed me over while duct-taping shut one of the cardboard boxes labeled in hasty scrawl as _living room stuff #3_. "After all," she continued, "you'll make new friends, be open to new opportunities, explore new heights…"

I clenched my teeth hard in order to suppress my aggravation. My words gutted the air without mercy. "Mom," I managed to ground out, "what if_ I_ don't want any of those things?" then my voice took on a softer, perceptibly smaller tone as I paused from trying to tape another cardboard box shut, which wasn't turning out as great as I would've hoped anyway, "Please, Mama. I know I won't be happy in the city. Plus, it's so big and scary and I won't know anyone at all and my friends will be too far away for me to visit and, who knows, the city will probably make me resort to abrupt suicide."

Hopefully, that will make her see things my way.

The empty, not-too-large living room grew dead silent. I took this moment to briefly observe my surroundings. I quietly, but thoroughly, took in the beige walls and the light wood paneling which just barely stood out against the mocha-tinted carpet. I pictured the walls as they were before my mom help me strip them bare, covered thickly in decorations varying from pictures of loved ones to miniature keepsakes from the life I previously shared with my father in Tokyo when I was a little girl. Unfortunately, I could not remember much from my alternate life. All that I could recall was a large shrine whose beauty was enough to captivate a common spectator into having a soundless, but mild aneurism. The other thing that melded itself to my mind was just how much I missed that shrine and the life that it enclosed me in from birth. No matter how fiercely I tried to scrape the thought from the foremost reaches of my mind, it clung tightly, refusing to let up as its clutches invaded deeper into my brain.

It was then that my mom's gentle voice carried me away from the impending chaos of my emotions.

"Do you remember the story I told you about the shrine in Tokyo?"

"Yeah…" I replied, dejection starkly coloring my voice, "I remember."

I heard my mom sigh as she thrust her box aside, her roll of duct-tape perched on the flaps, still noticeably connected to the short strand of tape that traveled just one-thirds along the cardboard opening. I observed her stunted handiwork with a feeble eye and then took in the clumsy misalignment of my taping-efforts with a rough gulp of disappointment. I didn't understand why I couldn't be as great a perfectionist as my mom. Maybe my genes were screwed up and just didn't have the correct code to unlock that enviable characteristic. That, or they were wisely persistent in their goal to keep the code away from me so that I wouldn't be allowed to even set a foot in the realm that was utter perfection…a safety hazard just narrowly avoided.

The rustling of clothing suddenly caught my attention. I looked up to find my mom in a different sitting position, her knees drawn to her chest and her arms snaked around them to pin them in place. Her chin was nested inside the cleft between her knees. I could see the worry streaming through her dark brown eyes, which were like mirrored reflections of my own. She was still fairly young, just approaching her mid-thirties, so it was barely a blow to my mind that she still had enough flexibility to sit that way for a protracted length of time.

"Do you also remember how young I was when I had you?" the softness of her voice made me think her words were actually stumbling from my own mouth. Still, I nodded, tempted for her to continue.

"I was so young, Kagome," she explained as she made a half-attempt to burrow deeper within herself, "Fresh out of high school and nowhere to go. Thankfully, your father, against the better judgment of his family, took me in and cared for me until I could get back up on my own two feet."

"I know, Mama…" I replied, "I know."

"You were so young when I decided to leave, but I wanted a better life for you, a better life for myself, for both of us."

"And…let me guess," I said with a small, ruefully twisted smile, "North Carolina was the way to go…?"

I thought I heard her scoff through her nose, but the sound was so faint that I wasn't even sure if she did so or not. "That's right," she finally said, "North Carolina was definitely the way to go."

Maybe it was just my imagination, or the stifling fog created by the myriad of emotions simmering in my belly, but I thought there existed a double-meaning in her reply, one that exceeded the reach of my understanding. However, I couldn't help but agree. North Carolina was a great place to live, that is, if you were into a place that didn't jump alive with festive nighttime activities. It was quiet, tamed, not at all like that of the New-Yorkian Hades which my mom was so enthralled with dragging me off to.

We, before the aliens took my real mom and opted to replace her with a clone that was wrongfully obsessed with the fast-life, lived happily in a single-leveled, two-bedroom house shallowly enshrouded by trees, just off the main stretch that clambered down a slight incline into town. The reason behind this particular location stemmed from an overprotective mother who refused to expose her child to an excessive amount of strangers while still allowing her sole progeny to partake in only a scarce few ties of comradeship among the locals. And since I was clearly missing a chunk of my programming that permitted me to speak fluid Japanese, I received the uniform cold-shoulder from most Asian-American residents who, unlike me, were glaringly aware of their native culture along with their mother-tongue. But, at that age, when both innocence and sheer tenacity reigned over me freely, I didn't care what they thought and made friends despite their cruel snubbing.

My eyes widened as a monstrous thought struck me head-on. _Wha—what if that changed? What if I began to take notice of the snubbing…the cold, hard rejection…while in the city? Gah!_

The thought wasn't as privately inclined as I would've liked for it to have been. Somehow, with her immaculate sixth-sense, my mom was instantly made aware of the worry weighing heavily on my mind, distorting my thoughts. I barely took notice of her as she pushed herself up onto her feet and quietly advanced towards me. Mere inches separated us before she decided to stoop down and touch my shoulder reassuringly. A surge of comfort escaped the palm of her hand in a wave, spreading quickly throughout my body until I could feel the tension on my stomach grow lax, anxiety successfully purged from its depths.

Inwardly, I sighed and let the warmth swallow me whole.

"It'll be alright, Kagome. I promise."


End file.
